Point-to-point bridging setup guide, Bssid

For the two bridges that are to be linked to communicate properly, they have to be set up with compatible commands in the setup screens.

For instance, the bridges must have the same channel number. Because there is a separate WLAN card for bridging, there can be a separate WLAN on the 802.11b/g card with no loss efficiency, as long as you set the channel numbers so there's no conflict or noise with the channel assigned to the bridge. Spanning Tree Protocol may be set to enable, if there is any possibility of a bridging loop, or to disable (which is more efficient) if there's no possibility of a bridging loop. Each bridge must contain the other's BSSID. (The BSSID of each is equivalent to the MAC address contained on the Wireless Configuration—Bridging setup page. Enter only hexadecimal numbers, no colons. Data entry is not case sensitive.) Finally, the wireless bridging encryption must be set to the appropriate type and key length and must be identical on each bridge.

The following chart shows sample settings.

Point-to-point bridging setup guide

Direction	Bridge 1	Bridge 2

Wireless Configuration – General

SSID	default (or set for 802.11b/g	default (or set for 802.11b/g
	WLAN)	WLAN)

Channel	11	11

Wireless Configuration – Encryption	Set for 802.11b/g WLAN	Set for 802.11b/g WLAN

Wireless Configuration – Bridging

Channel	4	4

Tx Power	Auto	Auto

Wireless Client Access	Enable	Enable

Spanning Tree Protocol	Enable (or Disable if no	Enable (or Disable if no
	bridging loop possible)	bridging loop possible)

BSSID	Add Bridge 2 BSSID	Add Bridge 1 BSSID

Wireless Configuration – Bridging Encryption	Select appropriate key	Select appropriate key
	type/length and value. Must	type/length and value. Must
	be the same key as Bridge 2.	be the same key as Bridge 1.

The following sequence walks you through the setup of bridge 1. Bridge 2 would duplicate this procedure, with the BSSID of bridge 2 being the MAC address of bridge 1 and vice versa.

First, navigate to the Wireless Configuration—General screen and set the channel number of the AP WLAN card so that it doesn't conflict with the channel number you will be using for the bridge. Leave the TX Pwr mode in AUTO position at this time. If there is a wireless LAN on the 802.11b/g card, other information would be set as discussed in Chapter 3.